Vision Guard-Smart Eyewear for Driver Alertness

Abstract

Driver fatigue and loss of alertness remain major contributors to traffic accidents and fatalities across the world. Although several advanced driver monitoring systems have been proposed, many of them rely on complex camera-based approaches or expensive vehicle-integrated solutions that are difficult to deploy in all types of vehicles. This paper presents Vision Guard, a low-cost, wearable and real-time driver alertness monitoring system designed as a smart eyewear platform. The proposed system continuously observes eye blink activity using a dedicated eye blink sensor and determines the alertness level of the driver through an Arduino UNO microcontroller. When prolonged eye closure is detected for more than three seconds, an audible warning is issued using a buzzer. If the eye closure exceeds five seconds, indicating severe drowsiness or unresponsiveness, a servo motor is activated to simulate a vehicle stopping mechanism. An LCD module displays real-time system status to improve user interaction. The prototype also integrates auxiliary sensors, including a Hall effect sensor and an ultrasonic sensor, as well as a relay module to demonstrate scalability and functional expansion. Experimental evaluation under simulated driving conditions confirms that the system can effectively detect drowsiness and trigger appropriate responses. The proposed platform provides an affordable and adaptable solution for enhancing road safety and offers a foundation for future developments such as Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and intelligent fatigue prediction.